Agentkit's published monthly plans range from $0 for 50 messages to $399.99 for 40,000 messages. Hobby is $29.99 for 2,000 messages. These are subscription allowances, not the full cost of operating a chatbot. The plan examples below retain their September 5, 2026 check date; confirm current prices and terms before buying.
Budget separately for setup and recurring operation. Your total also depends on content preparation, integration work and answer review. A message, a conversation and a billed outcome are different units.
Published plan examples
Official pages checked September 5, 2026. These offers use different billing units. This is Agentkit-authored desk research, and we sell one of the products listed. We have not tested these products for this guide.
| Offer | Published price or charging rule | Included usage / limitation |
|---|---|---|
| Agentkit Hobby | $29.99/month, monthly billing | 2,000 messages/month; one seat. |
| Chatbase Hobby | $40/month, monthly billing | 700 message credits/month; two members. Credits are not interchangeable with another vendor's messages. |
| Tidio | Check the selected product, billing interval and usage level on its pricing page. | The initial 50 Lyro AI conversations are one-off, not a recurring monthly message allowance. |
| Intercom Essential with Fin | Seat subscription plus Fin outcome charges; Fin is listed from $0.99 per outcome. | Fin usage is billed by outcome; check the current seat rate and billing interval. |
A support suite can include inbox and ticketing functions that a standalone chatbot plan does not cover. Compare the functions you need as well as usage limits. Related reading: AI chatbot vs. live chat and AI chatbots for websites.
Build an estimate for your own workload
Download the editable chatbot budget worksheet. It separates one-time work from recurring charges and keeps unknown prices visible. Copy it into your planning document; it contains no embedded formulas or vendor estimates.
Start with the vendor's billable unit. If you expect 200 conversations and assume 6 billable messages each, that scenario needs 1,200 messages. If the assumption is 12, it needs 2,400. The first fits Hobby's listed message allowance; the second exceeds it. Neither result establishes plan fit until you check seats, sources and required features. These are arithmetic examples, not measured customer usage.
| Calculate | Include |
|---|---|
| One-time setup | Content preparation hours × internal hourly cost, implementation hours × hourly cost, and external setup fees |
| Monthly operation | Subscription, verified additional usage charges, separate services, and maintenance hours × hourly cost |
| First-year cost | One-time setup + 12 × monthly operation, only if monthly costs stay constant |
Keep a low and high scenario. Leave unconfirmed costs marked unknown instead of entering zero. For annual billing, use the actual annual charge and renewal terms rather than multiplying a displayed monthly equivalent incorrectly.
Once you have a usage estimate, compare Agentkit's current plan limits. If you need observations first, use a small free-plan evaluation within its allowance and record billable usage before projecting a full month.
Can you use an average chatbot price?
This guide does not have a representative dataset of business chatbot spending, so it cannot establish a market average. The prices above are dated examples from vendors, not estimates of what most businesses pay.
What drives chatbot pricing
Check the usage unit, model rules, chatbot and seat limits, storage, and any separately priced features. Which item dominates your bill depends on the product and your use.
| Check | Question to answer |
|---|---|
| Usage | Is the unit a message, credit, conversation or outcome, and what triggers a charge? |
| Models | Which models are available, and does the model affect billed usage? |
| Chatbots and seats | How many are included, and can you buy more separately? |
| Sources | What file, website-link and storage limits apply? |
| Other charges | Are integrations, channels or add-ons priced separately? |
Traffic alone does not determine the bill. Measure how many visitors start a chat and how much billable usage each conversation creates. A tenfold traffic increase does not imply a tenfold plan price because participation, billing units and plan thresholds can differ.
Check both model availability and how usage is counted. Agentkit offers ten core models on paid plans, GPT-6 Astra and Claude Fable 5.1 on Pro, and a smaller free selection. That describes plan access; it does not establish equal answer quality or equal usage accounting across vendors.
Building your own or using a hosted platform
Compare the same requirements on both routes. Include content preparation, integration work, testing and ongoing ownership in either budget.
| Budget item | Self-managed system | Hosted product |
|---|---|---|
| Infrastructure | Estimate model, retrieval, hosting and monitoring costs. | Check included usage and additional charges. |
| Setup | Estimate implementation, testing and content preparation. | Estimate configuration, testing and content preparation. |
| Maintenance | Assign owners for software, infrastructure and answer quality. | Assign owners for sources, configuration and answer quality. |
| Limits | Check component licenses and capacity constraints. | Check plan limits and available customization. |
Building may fit a requirement that available hosted products cannot meet. A hosted product may reduce the infrastructure work your team owns. Compare a scoped engineering estimate with the vendor's quote and limits before deciding.
For questions to consider, see SaaS vs. open-source chatbots.
Chatbot pricing models explained
Vendors can combine several charging methods. Check the product's own definition of a billable unit.
| Charging method | What to check |
|---|---|
| Messages, credits or conversations | The definition of one unit, included allowance and overage rules. |
| Outcomes | The vendor's billable-outcome definition, which may include more than confirmed resolutions. |
| Subscription tier | Which limits and features the recurring payment includes. |
| Seats | Which users need paid seats and whether usage charges also apply. |
Agentkit lists monthly plans with included messages. Chatbase uses message credits. Intercom combines seats and Fin outcomes. Compare those definitions before converting usage into a budget.
See chatbot pricing models explained for a separate discussion of billing models.
Compare named plans, not market bands
Free tiers, monthly subscriptions and custom contracts serve different needs. The named examples above show published offers, not typical spending bands. Compare annual and monthly terms for the specific plan you are considering.
See chatbot as a service pricing for additional budgeting questions.
Agentkit plan breakdown
The table below lists Agentkit's public monthly plans. Document uploads are subject to supported formats and storage limits; check the document-source documentation before preparing files.
| Free | Hobby | Standard | Pro | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | $0 | $29.99 | $119.99 | $399.99 |
| Messages/mo | 50 | 2,000 | 12,000 | 40,000 |
| Chatbots | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Team seats | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| Processed-content storage per chatbot | 400 KB | 40 MB | 40 MB | 40 MB |
| AI models | GPT-6 Sol, GPT-5.6 Terra, GPT-6 Luna, Claude Haiku 4.5, Gemini 3.7 Flash | 10 core models | 10 core models | All 12 models |
| Lead capture | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Domain restrictions | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Rate limiting | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| REST API | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Remove branding | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Scheduled website-source retraining | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Webhooks | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Zapier | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Website links | 10 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
For the available models, check the account's model selector and model settings documentation. Model names can change. Test your own questions before selecting one.
Related reading: chatbot API and Zapier integrations.
Which plan fits your situation
Free. Use the free tier for an initial evaluation within its limits. Measure actual usage before deciding whether it fits an ongoing deployment.
Hobby. Hobby is $29.99/month on monthly billing. Compare its message and seat limits with your needs, and check the integration prerequisites before subscribing.
Standard. Standard is $119.99/month on monthly billing. It includes two chatbots and three seats, branding removal and scheduled website-source retraining. Uploaded documents still need updates when their contents change.
Pro. Pro is $399.99/month on monthly billing, with three chatbots and five seats. Check its listed message allowance against observed usage.
Enterprise. For needs beyond the published plans, use the contact route in Agentkit's billing documentation. Confirm required features and terms directly; this guide does not establish availability of SSO, audit logs, custom SLAs or compliance commitments.
The cost of implementing a chatbot
Request estimates against the same tasks and acceptance criteria. A zero subscription price does not remove your team's setup work.
| Route | Work to include in the estimate |
|---|---|
| Self-serve hosted setup | Source preparation, configuration, integration and acceptance testing. |
| Specialist setup | A written scope, deliverables, support terms and your team's review time. |
| Enterprise integration | Security review, procurement, integration, testing and operational ownership. |
| Custom build | Engineering, component licensing, infrastructure and ongoing maintenance. |
Assign an owner for the knowledge base, answer review and content updates. Estimate that person's time from your own workload rather than assuming a fixed number of hours per month.
Source preparation can require staff time even when a hosted plan includes document ingestion. Check supported formats, storage and any processing charges. For a custom system, include ingestion, embedding and retrieval costs in the estimate.
See chatbot implementation costs for a separate budgeting discussion.
Hidden costs to watch for
When evaluating any chatbot platform, ask about these potential extras before committing:
- Overage fees. What happens when you hit your message limit? Some platforms charge per additional message. Others pause or hard-cut the chatbot. Know the policy upfront.
- Model upcharges. Some platforms advertise a low base price but charge extra for premium models. Confirm whether the models you actually want to use are included at your tier.
- Integration fees. CRM connectors, webhook access, and REST API usage are sometimes sold separately. Check what is bundled before you compare sticker prices.
- Storage and source limits. The amount and format of your source content affect the limits you need. Check storage caps and per-document limits, especially if your knowledge base is large.
- Billing commitment. Check the amount due upfront, renewal date, cancellation terms and when a downgrade takes effect. Choose a billing interval after reviewing those terms.
Related reading: chatbot integration guide.
How to estimate your monthly cost
- Measure actual billable usage during a representative period. If no data exists, record low and high assumptions explicitly and replace them with observations after a pilot.
- Match that usage to the vendor's billing definition, then check seats, chatbot count and required features.
- Add setup and maintenance work, separately priced services and the billing commitment.
An assumed usage figure is a budgeting scenario, not a product-test result or an estimate of typical customer behavior. This guide does not provide a measured engagement rate or support-deflection rate.
For an initial evaluation, see free AI chatbots. Check each offer's current limits and trial terms.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a chatbot cost per month?
Use the current vendor price and its billable usage definition to build an estimate. The examples in this guide are published offers, not a measured average of business spending. A custom build also needs an estimate for engineering and ongoing infrastructure.
Is there a free AI chatbot for websites?
Agentkit currently offers a free plan with one chatbot and 50 monthly messages. Check the source and storage limits before using it on a live site.
Are AI chatbots worth the cost?
Measure whether the chatbot resolves the questions you intend to automate, how often people still need help, and the staff time required to maintain it. Compare the total cost with the support work actually avoided. This guide has no measured return-on-investment result to report.
What makes a chatbot expensive?
Check usage charges, seats, chatbot limits, integrations and any enterprise contract requirements. A feature's presence in a general checklist does not mean Agentkit offers it. Use the relevant vendor's current terms for the budget.
Can I switch plans as my needs change?
Agentkit's billing documentation says a downgrade takes effect at the end of the current billing period. Review the billing portal and current terms before changing a subscription. Other vendors may use different rules.
What is the difference between SaaS chatbots and open-source?
A hosted product and a self-managed system allocate infrastructure and maintenance work differently. Check the current license and commercial terms of every component; source availability does not establish that a product is free to use or self-host. See SaaS vs. open-source chatbots.
How much does chatbot training data cost?
Budget for preparing and maintaining your source content. A hosted plan can impose storage or ingestion limits; a custom system can also incur embedding, retrieval and infrastructure costs. This guide does not establish a universal price for that work. Related reading: how to train a chatbot.
Choose from measured usage
Compare the plan limits with your own observed usage and the work needed to maintain the system. Recheck the vendor's current prices and terms before purchasing.
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